The Recall Series
by Articfreezer
Summary: A person is thrown into an empty void. A bear comes to inform them of their fate.
1. Milky Way

"Wow! What is this place?"

Milky Way beamed as she took in her surroundings, though there really wasn't that much to take in. The space around her resembled a purple-ish void. She herself floated listlessly in a direction she considered upwards. It was as if she weighed nothing in this world. Occasionally, a sparkle of light would appear around her and streak past, disappearing before she could really focus on it. The area she was in empty, and she remembered being somewhere like here before. She didn't like this place.

She was lost again. Just a moment ago she was resting comfortably at the player lodgings, preparing for her next soccer match. Honestly, she knew that ever since she had been replaced on the team, her chances of actually playing were slim to none. But a girl can dream can't she?

What happened? She wondered. She used to be a star. An invaluable asset to the team's success. She was in a rhythm, and her music was playing louder than ever. Power was never her game, so she prided herself on letting others shine. And she had felt she had done an adequate job of it.

So then why was it that it felt all so distant now? Toward the end of her time as a starter, she was starting to lose her effect on the other players. She had done everything she could to regain her status, but it was futile. All songs had an end. And it appeared that her time as a starter did too.

Even so, she kept hope that she'd be used at least once more. Perhaps they would put her in once in a while, much like one would replay an old song they were fond of. She had kept that one hope up all the while she was on the bench. But of course it amounted to nothing. It always did.

Even so, she had friends on that team. Fellow players that she thought she had a connection with. Would they wonder where she had gone off to? Or would they already know?

Because in all honesty, she was sure that she had followed the manager's instructions. She was sure she had been told that this was the right ship. That this meant it would be the ship that would take her to the next soccer game. Well, evidently, it wasn't.

It was pretty clear what had happened. The team had gotten rid of her. She had been released. Sent away to this empty place to rot in a world she had no knowledge of. She had worn out her welcome in the team and was sent away. Really, even she could figure out that much.

It was always something that could have happened, and she had started to prepare for it. But what she couldn't figure out was why she was here, in this desolate emptiness. To her knowledge, most of the players that the team didn't need any more were told so. At her caliber, or at least what she liked to consider her caliber, the players were often asked to perform one final act of service to the team by training with one of the starters. Then they were sent on their merry way back to their planet without any questions. But she was neither asked to train nor back in any planet she knew of.

The only other explanation was that she was simply sold. The team had sent her back to the drafting boards in exchange for money.

But if that were the case, then why was she alone?

Many players were sold each day. Most of them multiple times. They were all sent back together, clumped up in a mass of bodies, ready to be sent to another team in an instant. Point being, if she was really sold...she still shouldn't be alone. Where was everyone else?

Maybe she was special. Or maybe she was so useless now that the coaches had to come up with an entirely new way to dispose her. The thought struck a painful feeling in her chest. That was it. That was what she was afraid of most. That despite everything, she'd be alone again. Something she had convinced herself would never happen again. And yet-

This void! This empty space! This miserable lonely atmosphere! Milky Way was on the verge of losing it. She thrashed around wildly, but without anything around her, no one would notice. She could scream as loud as she could and it wouldn't change a thing.

" _Smile."_

As if commanded by the voice in her head, Milky went limp. A smile forced its way on her face. Though from appearance, it was as natural as it got. That was all she was good at in any case. Forcing a smile, when she needed it. When she had first gotten lost, she smiled. When she met someone new, her smile had the power to get them to talk to her. When she was playing in the galaxy league against aliens, angels, and demons in a match that could possibly change the world, she smiled. And even in her most desperate time of need, she still kept that smile on her face. Pathetic. All of it was.

What good was it to smile now? It didn't matter. She started to hum. She hummed for a while. Time passed, though how much it was impossible to tell.

She caught a glimpse of a slower flash of light heading toward her. Squinting her eyes, she was able to make out that it wasn't actually any type of light at all. Some sort of freakish bear, resembling the perverted gatekeeper, was lazily drifting toward her. She continued to hum.

As it came closer, the short bear eventually focused more clearly into her view. She was able to make out an unamused looking face, tired looking eyes, and what she assumed to be a dirty, worn out toupee on its head. She gave a wide grin in its direction. The bear returned her gaze with its deadpan face.

"Are you Milky Way?"

"Hmmhmm~ Yup!"

"…Right." The bear narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her demeanor. "I am Sho Sho. Starting from today I'm your replacement, effective immediately due to the recall system."

…

Ah, so that's what it was. She wasn't being asked to train anyone or being sent back to try her luck with another team. She was just downright being replaced. With this old, dead bear. They would rather have this bear than her. And so they sent her out here. To the middle of nowhere. For the bear.

Well, if that's what they want…she mused.

SCREW EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

They found more value in this bear? Was she that useless? Did they even realize what they did to her?

If that's how it truly was…if that's how they truly felt…maybe rotting in this world wasn't so bad.

It certainly wasn't as bad as being betrayed by the ones she trusted. Yup, she was convinced of that.

And as for the bear-

Milky Way could have done many things to it as it passed her by. It was an arm's length away. In a world where weight didn't seem to exist, she could have pushed it off its path. She could have swatted that fake looking toupee of its head. She could have punched it really hard in the gut if she wanted to.

She smiled at it.

Because what was the point in doing something different now?

"Good luck on the team~!"

Sho Sho looked at the girl, baffled the girl was as placid as she was, though his expressionless face did not show it. The normal reaction he expected was for the girl to shriek bloody curses at him. At the very least, some angry retribution. Was she in some sort of shock? Still, it was slightly unsettling. Readjusting his hair, he nervously averted his gaze.

"…Yes. Thank you."

Those were their last words as they floated on past each other. Neither turned around to look back at the other. And as for Milky Way, she happily stared off into the distance. She had no idea where she was going. But she hardly cared anymore. She floated onwards, humming to herself to pass the time. But every so often, she stopped and her eyes widened. For a second or two her smile would drop from her face. Her mouth would open in the shape of a scream. But it didn't matter. In the next second, her grin was back on her face as she bemusedly looked around.

"Wow! What is this place?"

 **Cover credit goes to Chupatesta on Reddit. Full version of Milky Way art here: .  
**


	2. Elaine

"Mission Start."

Elaine inhaled deeply before stepping out of the ship.

Without a chance to react, she floated up into the air, much to her bewilderment. Just what sort of trickery was this? She had forgotten to account for the potential loss of gravity and her lapse in attention had cost her this time. Her attempts to goad her body back to the ship were futile and there appeared to be nothing to latch onto in this space. Resigned, she ceased her movements but kept alert, in case any developments were to be reported.

Today was a strange day. She had not anticipated being sent out here like this.

The surrounding void was a dull shade of eminence, faded out around her. As far as she could make out, there was not a presence to be felt. What was she supposed to accomplish in a desert like this?

What were they thinking?

Her team had made the decision to dispatch her here. The objective was never clear. She just simply acknowledged it as a mission and obeyed without a complaint. But it really appeared as if this place was simply a wasteland. Why would they send her here?

What was the code?

There was no need to lose her composure. If she could just keep a level head and think this through…What would her father do in this situation?

Her father…

She had started this all for him. Being a spy was not lucrative work, but for one of the best, it was just another challenge. Finding secrets, figuring puzzles out, avoiding disaster…they were all part of the routine. Her father had showed her his secrets, the art of the trade so to speak. But nothing he had ever told her prepared her for when he disappeared.

It was dreadfully somber that time. She had waited up all night, not sleeping a single wink, waiting for her father to return that day. Maybe he was late, she thought at first. Maybe something else came up. Her hopeful illusions did not last however, when he never showed. If there was anything she took away from her father's guidance, it was that a spy needed to keep a level head.

Logically, it was a fact. He was gone. No one knew where he went. She had asked around, of course. The lack of intricate responses suggested that his coworkers did not want to admit the simple truth to her. And she was not so shortsighted to see what that meant.

She broke the code. Her dad was gone. There was no traces.

It was as if aliens had abducted him out of thin air, as illogical as it sounded.

Emotionally, she didn't want to believe it. It was a struggle trying to cope with the facts. But the facts were there. And she was raised to trust in the facts.

The facts did not say he was dead.

There was still the unlikely optimistic possibility that he was somewhere out there, still alive. The lack of a body suggested that at the very least. Of all the ways one could make a body vanish, the agency had checked them. They had wasted valuable resources to recover their master spy. It yielded no results. As slippery in death as he was in life, the newspapers read. But a dead body was easy to recover. A master spy, on the other hand, would not let himself be caught so easily.

She made the decision to find him. Her level head suggested it was a waste of time. Spies don't have emotions, she was taught. Humans do. And spies take advantage of that. Logically, there was no reason to waste the effort on a mission that most likely won't pay out. However, when it came to her dad-

Just this once, being human could be better.

Even if she were to end up in the same place as him, just that would be enough. She was confident they could find a way back together.

She left on her quest. Just as anticipated, it wasn't easy. Her country and financial situation simply wouldn't let her leave the mainland. She needed to find a valid excuse to travel the world with the little resources she had. What was the common link with the rest of the world?

She broke the code. It was soccer. A sport universally known where the best are sent to competitions across the world. She just needed to be the best.

She joined an Underground soccer league. She had little knowledge of the sport, but her background as a spy allowed her to pick it up quickly. Learning new skills quickly was part of the job description after all. It wasn't long before she turned from a girl in a dangerous situation to a respectable soccer player.

And it was then a startling new piece of intelligence discarded all her current progress. Aliens do exist.

A peculiar rabbit caught her attention. It was comfortably bipedal and adorned in peculiar loose clothes. She would have assumed it was a circus rabbit, as was the logical explanation, if not for the instances she saw it glance at a stopwatch. She had never heard of a rabbit with the ability to read a clock before. It perked her interest, so she did what she did best. She spied on it.

It talked. The rabbit could talk. She had followed to it a group of school kids and heard it talk. It defied all logic. Rabbits simply did not possess the same vocal chords to make the same pitch of sound that humans made. There was no possible explanation for this, none, except-

It was an alien. It said so. It also said the universe was in peril. And soccer, yes, soccer, the very same game she was perfecting, was the way to save it. She analyzed the situation. She could not find a reason for it to lie. Or maybe she just wanted to believe this nonsensical tale.

It was as if aliens had abducted him out of thin air. And now it was not as illogical as it once sounded.

She trained. She practiced. She reviewed every soccer film that she could get her hands on. Cracked the very best strategies and invented a few of her own. It was more important now than ever that she had the ability necessary for this sport.

Possess it she did. Her mind with her physical ability meshed together into a prototype for a super player. She allowed the rabbit to discover her and predictably, the critter beseeched her to play in the galaxy soccer league. She complied without hesitation. It was her break.

Her strategy was working to perfection. Prior to her entrance she had learned the crucial information that one goal was all that a team needed to win. Her expertise was more in the crafty trickery department, so she would have to break another rule of her dad's and trust another human. But doing so opened up a whole bevy of tactics that she could implement. And for the first bulk of her games her scheme had enemy goalkeepers mystified. Not a single one of them was immune to the brilliance that was her mind.

Spies knew better than anyone else how precarious it was to trust. But she broke the code. Trust was the key to victory.

No, that wasn't quite right. She refused to believe that as a spy. Not by itself, trust would never be enough. It was what the players played for that really shaped the difference. Every game she won, she won to get one step closer to her father. But she was playing for her friends that she trusted now as well.

Except it wasn't all going according to her vision. Like any strategy eventually would, hers were beginning to get figured out. Opponents were better prepared. On many incidents, she was still able to find an opening, one small misstep the defense made she could exploit. It was certainly getting more formidable though.

And then just like that, suddenly her run with the team was over. Thinking logically, it was obvious why her team had dispatched her in this location. They sent her to this void because they no longer needed her. Her strategies had worn out their welcome and she was no longer of any use.

She broke the code. Simply put, she was not good enough.

A tiny bear was approaching her at 12:00…no it was more like 11:20. She inspected its appearance. Light brown fur. Tiny nose. Beady eyes. Toupee. Monocle. Suit. Those were some of the characteristics she could list out when describing it.

"Hey…" It spoke up. "Are you Elaine?"

Elaine suspended her response. Could this be a trap? A trap for what? A spy was not supposed to give away her identity lightly. Yet she could not find an acceptable reason to hold her silence as well. She nodded.

"Greeaaat." The little bear groaned out. "I am Sho Sho. Starting from today, I'm your replacement due to the recall system."

The bear stopped to look at her. She made no audible note. She nodded, mentally processing the information as she prompted it to go on.

Sho Sho flickered his eyes, fazed. He had not planned to say anything else, but at the girl's cue he added-

"I'm sorry."

Sorry? He was remorseful? Elaine took this information in stride, her mind humming in thought. There was nothing the bear had done to her. But yet she had received an apology. Which meant-

What was going to happen to her?

She broke the code. The answer right in front of her face the whole time. Nothing. This emptiness was her fate. She had been too optimistic. And it had cost her.

The bear floated past her without another word. She idly wondered if that would be the last sight she would see in her life. Idly wondering went against her training, but from what it appeared like, logically, she would have a lot of time to kill by idly wondering anything her heart desired.

Gone. Without a trace. They had disposed her by tricking her into this mission. She had underestimated the intellect of her team. If only she had ensured she had enough intel. It wasn't an enemy goalkeeper, an enemy manger, nor any target she had been required to spy on that was the most cunning. It was her own teammates. The ones she trusted.

If she had only listened to her father. Spies were never meant to trust humans. Look at what happened to her. If only she had not gotten caught up in her emotions. If only she had not been human.

She wondered if the same fate befell her father. Perhaps he was stuck somewhere in this void as well, deceived and disposed of without a trace. No, it was impossible. He was not so foolish to fall for the same tricks she had.

Now if he were to ever return back home, she would be one gone without a trace. And her dad was a master spy. He would not waste effort to look for her; He would not even feel a moment of sadness. It was against his policies.

Failure has never been an option. That was another one of her dad's phrases.

But this time, the one time she had become a human, trusted others, and developed emotions-

"Broke the code."

She had failed.


	3. Nerua

"This was not in the job description."

Nerua sighed. Something was amiss here. She had no control over her body as she floated lazily upwards. There was something off here.

Nerua wasn't the brightest. She admitted that. She owed more to Bell than anyone. It was luck that Bell had decided to make her a bodyguard. Well, she did have dedication. With not much else going for her, Nerua was willing to sacrifice anything to keep the princess safe. No other bodyguard had signed up for the Galaxy League as quickly and as willingly as her.

She had done it for the princess. Everything was because of her. She never imagined that she'd be playing soccer. But for the princess, she would, to keep her safe.

To her surprise, she was capable enough to be an asset. For the longest time they had put her on the active team, right next to the princess herself. It was a dream come true. She was able to protect her teammates just as well as she could protect her royal client. She was especially used to dealing with the angels and wild animals. Those posed no threat. She kept her team safe.

But she couldn't care less if they won. It didn't matter if they won. She was there for her and her alone. That was the whole reason she tried so hard. The rest were just a byproduct of her protection to her.

Her protective instincts caught the rest of the league's attention. She was praised all across the galaxy for her ability to keep her teammates safe. The fame pleasantly surprised her. For the first time, she was being praised for something, and not only that, but praised all over the galaxy! She played on many teams, many that the princess herself didn't. And on each one, she showed why she was chosen to be the princess's bodyguard.

She still couldn't believe it. All she was doing was being herself, and she was a star. Scouted all over the galaxy, playing with many kinds of people, doing what she did best. And all she had to do was adapt her style of protection.

Was it fun? She'd get in trouble if she said it was. But she was in over her head.

A bodyguard is useless if she is away from the body she is supposed to guard. And with all the different types of teams that she had been playing on, she had let that one crucial important detail slip.

With all the times she complained about something not being in the job description, it seemed she actually forgot herself what the job description was. And she was reminded of exactly what it was in the worst possible way.

It had been another one of those days. She was pulled all over the galaxy, guarding people she had no reason to guard, neglecting her duty to stay by the princess to...play soccer.

Exhausted, she had returned from her busy day. But what she came back to was something that flipped her entire world upside down.

Bell. The Princess Bell, her client that she was supposed to protect, was attacked.

The doctors said it was a serious injury; she was cursed with an ailment they had no knowledge of. Nerua did everything she could to visit the room where her client was held, but with whom the princess was, no one was allowed. Not even her bodyguard.

All the time that she was kept in isolation, Nerua had nothing to do in her isolation but dwell on her failures. Who could have done it? The fact that not even the doctors knew how to cure her clearly implied that it was an attack from another planet. And today she had played on every single one of them.

Nerua was going paranoid. Was it possible that one of the teams she played on had purposely drawn her out to attack the princess as she was unguarded? Were they cooperating? If only she hadn't played on so many teams...the suspects were endless.

It was months before the princess finally recovered. Nerua rushed to her side at once. Bell sat in her ward, seemingly waiting for her bodyguard. But before Nerua could get out an apology-

"Where were you?"

Bell's question stopped Nerua in her tracks. She had no answer. There was no excuse for what she had done.

From then on, she considered every element to be her enemy. She refused to protect them in the same way as her princess. If they wanted protection, they would have to fend for themselves. She would even give a few pointers. But she wasn't going to do anything for the possible suspects.

She fell in popularity immediately. The whispers didn't sneak past her. "What's with Nerua?" "She's useless now." "All this hype and this is what I get?!" It was hurtful, but she wasn't going to sympathize. As far as she was concerned only the people on her own planet weren't guilty. Those were the only people she was supposed to protect in the first place. And she ignored the whispers.

One night, there was a note. It was instructions from the princess to board a ship to a place she had never heard of. It wasn't written in Bell's handwriting. But Nerua didn't dare chance disobeying a second time.

She boarded the ship. When it stopped, she was pushed out. And now here she was. Nerua wasn't the smartest, but she knew she had been tricked the second she had took the time to think about it.

It was a lose-lose situation. Had she not obeyed that note, she would have risked Bell firing her. The princess was a really busy individual, and she had given instructions this way before. But following that note led her to her demise. And now Bell was in danger.

It was this that made her feel the worst. Not her own fate. She deserved something like this all along. It was that her client, her friend, Bell was now in constant peril. There was nothing she could do about it.

Nerua spotted something in the distance. A bear, it seemed. Perhaps it would show her mercy and tear her to shreds right there. She sighed. That was impossible. The bear was a small gatekeeper. It posed no threat to her.

As soon as it flew into hearing range, the bear spoke.

"Are you...Nerua?"

"Yes." She responded promptly. "And who are you?"

"I am Sho Sho." The bear adjusted the glasses on its face as it spoke.. "Starting from today, I will be your replacement, due to the recall system."

Nerua could not contain her shock. Replacement? She was being….replaced? Why would an enemy send a replacement for her? But...then…

That meant it was Bell who sent that note! Nerua gasped. This...small bear was to be Bell's bodyguard? Was it more capable than her?

Ah...that was simple. Of course she would be replaced. After her failure to protect the princess, it was only natural that she would be exiled in this fashion.

There were a bevy of feeling that Nerua could feel at this moment. She chose to feel relief. Bell deserved better than her. No, this was a good thing. A failure like hers was unacceptable. This is exactly what should of happened.

Nerua reached out, causing the Sho Sho to flinch. It had the reaction time at the very least. Appearances could be deceiving as well. If this bear was truly a gatekeeper, she was sure it had tricks up its sleeves. She softly patted the small bear on top of its head, earning herself a look of surprise from the gatekeeper.

"Protect the princess...better than I did, okay?" Nerua spoke softly. Tears were starting to form on her eyes, but she bit her tongue to stop them from falling. There was no excuse for her to cry. This is what she deserved, after all.

The bear gaped at her, having no idea what the girl he was replacing said. "Uh...sure." he replied hesitantly.

Nerua smiled. It wasn't easy, but she managed it. A sort of strained, forced smile, but it did the trick. it reflected her feelings after all.

As long as the princess was safe, it didn't matter what happened to someone like her. She wholeheartedly believed that.

It didn't make it any less painful, but what was she going to do?

The bear had past by her. She was going to leave her duty with it. And without her job now, it was starting to truly settle in what she was now.

An empty shell of a dimwitted girl, who the princess had kept around despite her shortcomings. But it seemed she had finally gotten what she really deserved.

The tears were starting to fall. There was no dignity to protect. She let them drop. She was just a collection of mass now. In fact, she felt sorry for the tears for having to come out of _her_. Those drops of water deserved better.

Hours passed before she finally got it all out her system. Lightheaded, she closed her eyes, sniffling. She imagined how Bell was faring with her new acquisition. Imagining the princess content and well-guarded managed to bring a smile back on her face, despite her situation.

As long as she was safe, Nerua thought. As long as she was safe.


End file.
